HISTORY OF THE ANGELS IN HEAVEN, & THE THIRD ON THEIR WAY TO HELL
Vern Bender
War in Heaven, one point of view is;
All major western religions mention angels. The ancient Zoroastrian faith had guardian angels called Fravashi and mentioned a great battle between angels of good vs. angels of evil. Not only do the Islam, Jewish, and Christian faith feature angels, but mention the archangels Michael and Gabriel (or Jibril) by name.\The Greek Hermes and Roman Mercury sported wings and were known as the messenger of the gods. The Greek word ‘Angelo’ means messenger.
Archaeologists have unearthed altars dedicated to winged guardian angels in Iraq, in what was once Samaria dating from 3,000 BC. Old stories go back even further. The idea of the existence of unearthly, shining beings predates the concept of a monotheistic God.d a place in the religions and belief systems of western culture for a long time.
In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, the Book of Revelation describes a war in heaven between angels led by the Archangel Michael against those led by “the dragon”, identified as the devil or Satan, who was defeated and thrown down to the earth.
While it may be impossible to define the existence of angels, or the time in history when such beings became what we think of as angels, radiant messenger beings sent by God have had a place in the religions and belief systems of western culture for a long time.
AOTHER i INTERPETION IS:
The voice of a thousand thousand was heard saying,
Salvation, honour and power be to almighty God.
A thousand thousand ministered to him, and ten hundreds of thousands stood before him.
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, THE REVOLT FAILED. The APOSTATES WERE CAST OUT OF HEAVEN.
The Devil, Satan, the father of all lies, who Deceived the world: He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
God decided to save those He could. The devil got Eve to taste the forbidden fruit. EVE SAID TO Ada, TRY THIS. Tradition has stories about. Angelic beings cast down from heaven by God’s side.
Another version of the battle states that God started the war to purge His hosts of the evil that had set in.
In the War Scroll, according to Menahem Mansoor, the angels of light, who are identified with Michael, the prince of light, will fight in heaven against the angels of darkness, who are identified with Belial, while the Sons of Light fight the Sons of Darkness on earth, and during the last of the seven battles described in the scroll will come and help the Sons of Light win the final victory.[23]
James R. Davila speaks of Song 5 of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice as describing “an eschatological war in heaven similar to that found in 11Q13 and to traditions about the archangel Michael in the War Rule and the book of Revelation”.[24] He suggests that Melchizedek, who is mentioned both in the Melchizedek document and the fifth song of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, may be a divine warrior who is involved in the conflict with the archangel Michael in the futurist sense. That the Melchizedek document (11Q13) concerns a war in heaven is denied by Fred L. Horton, who remarks that “there is no hint in the extant portion of the 11Q Melchizedek of a revolt of heavenly beings against the heavenly council, and the only dissenting spirit is the traditional Belial”;[25] the view of Davila, however, is that the document originally was about an eschatological war in heaven, with Melchizedek as neglect New Testament of the Christian Bible, the Book of Revelation describes a war in Heaven. heaven between angels led by the ArchangelMichael against those led by “the dragon”, identified as the devil or Satan, who was defeated and thrown down to the earth.[1][2] Revelation’s war in Heaven is related to the idea of fallen angels, and possible parallels have been proposed in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls. The War is frequently featured in works of Christian art, such as John Milton‘s epic poem Paradise Lost, which describes it as occurring over the course of three days because of God the Father announcing Jesus Christ as His Son.
Parallels are drawn to the passage in Isaiah 14:4–17 that mentions the “son of the morning” who had “fallen from heaven” and was “cast down to the earth”. In verse 12 of this passage, the Hebrew word that referred to the morning star was translated into Latin as lucifer. With the application to the Devil of the morning-star story, “Lucifer” was then popularly applied to him as a proper name. The term lucifer, the Latin name (literally “Light-Bearer” or “Light-Bringer”) for the morning star (the planet Venus in its morning appearances), is often given to the Devil in popular stories. The brilliancy of the morning star—which appears brighter than all other stars, but is not seen during the night proper—may have given rise to myths such as the Babylonian story of Ethana and Zu, who was led by his pride to strive for the highest seat among the star-gods on the northern mountain of the gods (an image present also in Ezekiel 28:14), but was hurled down by the supreme ruler of the Babylonian Olympus Stars were then regarded as living celestial beings.[2021]
The Great Controversy:
“All humanity is now involved in a great controversy between Christ and Satan regarding the character of God, His law, and His sovereignty over the universe. This conflict originated in heaven when a created being endowed with freedom of choice in self-exaltation became Satan, God’s adversary. He led into rebellion a portion of the angels. He introduced the spirit of rebellion into this world when he led Adam and Eve into sin. This human sin resulted in the distortion of the image of God in humanity, the disordering of the created world, and its eventual devastation at the time of the worldwide flood. Observed by the whole creation, this world became the arena of the universal conflict, out of which the God of love will ultimately be vindicated. To assist His people in this controversy, Christ sends the Holy Spirit and the loyal angels to guide, protect, and sustain them in the way of salvation. (Rev. 12:4-9; Isa. 14:12-14; Eze. 28:12-18; Gen. 3; Rom. 1:19-32; 5:12-21; 8:19-22; Gen. 6-8; 2 Peter 3:6; 1 Cor. 4:9; Heb. 1:14.)”[19]
The chief proponent of the “war in heaven” among SDAs was Ellen G. White, who expanded the concept in her book, Great Controversy between Christ and Satan (1884), where she reinterprets and extends Milton’s portrayal in Paradise Lost as a metaphor for religious conflict
His Christian tradition has stories about angelic beings cast down from heaven by God, often presenting the punishment as inflicted in particular on Satan. Because of linking this motif with the cited passage of the Book of Revelation, the casting of Satan down from heaven, which other versions of the motif present as an action of God himself, has become attributed to the archangel Michael at the conclusion of a war between two groups of angels, of whom (because of the mention of the dragon’s tail casting a third of the stars of heaven to the earth) one-third are supposed to have been on the side of Satan, in spite of the fact that the casting down of the stars motives, all of which stem from his great pride. These motives include:
the culmination of a gradual distancing from God through rebellion (an idea of Origen of Alexandria).[5]
a declaration by God that all were to be subject to his Son, the Messiah (as in Milton’s Paradise Lost).[6]
Jonathan Edwards states in his sermon Wisdom Displayed in Salvation:Satan and his angels rebelled against God in heaven and proudly presumed to try their strength with him. And when God, by his almighty power, overcame the strength of Satan, and sent him like lightning from heaven to hell with all his army; Satan still hoped to get the victory by subtlety[.
In the Catholic Encyclopedia (1911) article “St. Michael the Archangel”, Frederick Holweck wrote: “St. John speaks of the great conflict at the end of time, which reflects also the battle in heaven at the beginning of time.” He added that Michael’s name “was the war-cry of the good angels in the battle fought in heaven against the enemy and his followers”.[8]
Several modern Bible-commentators view the “war in heaven” in Revelation 12:7–13 as an eschatological vision of the end of time or as a reference to spiritual warfare within the church, rather than (as in Milton‘s Paradise Lost) “the story of the origin of Satan/Lucifer as an angel who rebelled against God in primeval times.”[9][10][11][12] Some commentators have seen the war in heaven as “not literal” but symbolic of events on earth.[13][14]
